protist
Sign in to saveA protist ( ) or protoctist is any eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, land plant, or fungus. Protists do not form a natural group, or clade, but are a paraphyletic group encompassing the entire eukaryote tree of life, from which land plants, animals, and fungi evolved. They are primarily single-celled, exhibiting a wide range of forms such as amoebae, ciliates, thick-walled microalgae and, more commonly, flagellates. Several transitions to multicellularity have occurred among protists, from colonies with alternating cell types to giant slime molds, fungus-like organisms, and seaweeds w
AI overview
A protist is any single-celled or simple multicellular organism with a nucleus that isn't an animal, plant, or fungus, encompassing a diverse group of amoebae, algae, and other forms of microscopic life. Protists matter because they represent the evolutionary bridge from which animals, plants, and fungi all evolved, and they play important roles in aquatic ecosystems and food chains.
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Article
40 sectionsContents
- Definition
- Morphology
- Classification
- Brief history
- Modern classification and diversity
- Predicted diversity
- Biology
- Nutrition
- Phagotrophy
- Osmotrophy
- Mixotrophy
- Homeostasis
- Mitochondria and respiration
- Cytoskeleton
- Sensory perception
- Symbionts
- Life cycle and reproduction
- Asexual reproduction
- Sexual reproduction
- Factors inducing sexual cycles
- Cycles in pathogenic protists
- Habitats
- Extreme habitats
- Biomass comparison
- Ecological roles
- Primary producers
- Consumers
- Decomposers
- Parasites and pathogens
- Mutualists and commensals
- Biogeochemical cycles
- Evolution and fossil record
- First fossils and stem eukaryotes
- Radiation of crown eukaryotes
- Neoproterozoic expansion
- Phanerozoic diversifications and major events
- See also
- Footnotes
- References
- External links
A protist ( ) or protoctist is any eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, land plant, or fungus. Protists do not form a natural group, or clade, but are a paraphyletic group encompassing the entire eukaryote tree of life, from which land plants, animals, and fungi evolved. They are primarily single-celled, exhibiting a wide range of forms such as amoebae, ciliates, thick-walled microalgae and, more commonly, flagellates. Several transitions to multicellularity have occurred among protists, from colonies with alternating cell types to giant slime molds, fungus-like organisms, and seaweeds with differentiated tissues.
Protists were historically regarded as a separate taxonomic kingdom known as Protista or Protoctista, or were lumped as part of the traditional plant and animal kingdoms as algae and protozoa, respectively. With the advent of molecular phylogenetics and electron microscopy studies, some protists were shown to be more closely related to animals or plants than to other protists, and algae were found to be intermixed with protozoa. The classification suffered major revisions, as seemingly unrelated forms were found to be evolutionarily related, and viceversa.